Another day, another rant

Greetings good people.
Well, here I go again. Another rant.
It now looks like old Gaddafi-Duck is out of power.  The "rebels" have entered Tripoli and seem to be running things there. While I have been critical of the man many times and called him Gaddafi-Duck more than a few times, he actually did much good for the people of Libya. They had, and I emphasis HAD, free health care and free education, up to and including college if I am not mistaken. Hey, I'd sure like a true national health care deal here in the US of A. I would bet that a vast majority of Americans would also. True, the big health "insurance" gangsters don't ever want such a thing, nor do the very rich and their pals the Wall Street banksters and the other "too big to fail" gangsters.


Now one is just waiting to see how soon the Libyan oil company gets sold off to the Western oil gang. No doubt Exxon-Mobil, Total, and the rest are chomping at the bit to get "their" share of the oil reserves under the sand of Libya. It is the people of Libya who will suffer big time now. Just as they have and still are suffering in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia where the US and/or NATO are bombing them all the way to "democracy". It is always the people, the working class and the poor folks who get the dirty end of the stick when capitalism comes to their countries. Just look at us here in America for the best example of this truth. Anybody seen and good paying, high skill jobs available lately?
Yes, those jobs have been "off shored", unless one is employed by some "defense" contractor or sub-contractor. Even many IT jobs have been "off shored" and THAT was supposed to be THE new, "hot" area that those of us who were mechanics, machinists, welders, etc were supposed to go into now that America was "post industrial".  Yeah, sure we are. LOLMAO.
And yet, private "schools" like ITT Tech continue to advertise on TV for their "schools" as a way to a "better" future. Yep, one filled with student loan debt no doubt. Oh, and with a "degree" that may or not be recognized by industry. Only in America.


Some of you may not like what I am about to say here. I no longer read Professor Juan Cole. I have deleted his blog from my computer and no longer visit his web site. Actually, I started this back in March after he came out so very strong FOR this damn fool non-war in Libya. He is STILL in favor of this idiotic war of choice. And he is supposedly a "leftist"? Oh, yeah, this is a "humanitarian" war, I mean "kinetic military action" in Libya. See, it really isn't war at all. Bullshit! When people are being bomber and have to watch the sky for cruise missiles and drone aircraft it sure as hell IS war goddamn it all!  Professor Cole just shows how immoral the "left" in America has become. Makes me even more happy that I refuse to belong to either wing of the damn war party. I will never again belong to either the elephant nor the donkey gang. I did, for a very short time back in 1980, register as a "democrat". That was mainly because of Dad. He had retired two years before and he got very political and would not allow the name of "saint" Ronnie of Raygun to be spoken in his house. Dad had not liked old Ronnie when he was the governor of California. Dad despised Ronnie. So, that year I did register for the donkey gang and did what little I could to help re-elect old Jimmy Peanuts. Didn't do enough as it turned out.  And that was back in a time when the unions, Dad was a member of Operating Engineers Local 12, still had some real power.  I'll just close this line by saying that Professor Cole has shown me how far down the rat hole the "left" in America has gone. Damn near off the bloody raisin my view. We really, and I mean REALLY need a viable third party. A party that actually represents the working class and the poor. It should be obvious to a blind person by now that the Democrats no longer do so. That whirring sound you heard is FDR spinning in his grave.


Most of you will have read or heard the unreal amount of pure, unadulterated, absolute STUPID that has come from the likes of Ms. Bachmann and Mr. Perry by now. Ms. Bachmann had some real "gems" to say about hurricane Irene and you folks on the East coast. Holy crap Batwoman! And this gal thinks she should be our president? If there IS a god, I hope we will not get that punishment.  She said that "god was trying to tell us to get spending in order" by way of the earthquake and hurricane on the eastern part of the US! Man, I thought I had heard everything. Well, it just proves what I have said for many years now. Just when I think I have seen/heard the absolute worst of stupid there could possibly be, somebody comes along and goes it one "better". She is starting to make fail' Palin look half way smart. Now THAT is very frightening.
Old Mr. Perry isn't very far behind her in the crazy either. I read where he has even denounced his own book that came out recently. Something about the book being just "campaign strategy" or some such BS. Oh sure, pay NO attention to what I said last week, or even yesterday. What I say NOW is what counts. The really sad thing is that many of the "tea party" types will go along with this crap. That shows how poor a job of educating our school system does now days. Like not at all. School should be where you learn critical thinking. I don't know much about the school systems in other states, but here in Louisiana, it seems to me that the teachers teach the state test and not much more. I think they still call it the "LEAP" test. Anyway, they basically teach the test as that is how the individual schools and even the individual teachers are graded by the state department of education. It would be fine if all we wanted were some mindless robots. Well, with so few high skilled jobs around here, I suppose they have no need to teach much else than that test. Sad though, as the country will be worse for this damn fool way of "schooling". I suppose as the Wall Street banksters and the "too big to fail" gangsters push the country ever closer to third world status there really is no need for highly educated citizens. Keep the fat, dumb, and lazy. All the better to rule over them then.


The whole world seems to be headed on a downhill run, with the US leading the way. The rich get ever richer, the damn fool wars of choice continue and new wars seem to just pop up every so often. Meanwhile the working class gets screwed, big time. Mr. Cantor is on record as saying that ANY Federal monies for earthquake/hurricane relief/repairs will have to be offset with budget cuts from other programs. Hell, even FEMA now can only get funding if some other government program gets cuts. This is no way to run a country folks. These damn idiotic "tea party" elephant gang congress critters are running our country into the toilet and are about to flush. And yet, they keep trying g to tell me that this is a "Christian" nation. What a load of bullshit! I have read the Bible and Christ did NOT say screw the poor. What we ARE is a very fundamental Xtian nation. A nation of false religion that only pretends to be  decent and caring. Horse manure! The only people that "our" congress critters care about are the very rich and those who make huge donations to their campaign coffers. The rest of us can go hang ourselves, which no doubt will soon be proposed by some jackass on the very far right wing of the damn war party.  I am very worried about America. Every time I look around it seems that things are just getting steadily worse. There are no high skilled jobs, the jobs that are available are low paying jobs and there is usually about 15 people applying for each open position. The economy, or what passes itself off to us as the economy is still very deep in a recession if not a full on depression and no end in sight.  The wonky wing of the war party is set to sell out the entire social system that took our parents and grandparents decades to build up. The future looks very bleak to me and I don't like it at all. I really do want to be upbeat about our country, but don't see much to be excited about. 


Well, we can all at least still try to be nice to each other. Who knows, we may actually meet some day, in the line at the soup kitchen or in some new "Obamaville" (aka Hooverville).


America, what  a country.
semper fi

Some thoughts for hard times

Greetings good people.
Well, we made it through the kabuki theater of the "debt crisis" which wasn't much  of a crisis at all. The whole thing was just more smoke and mirrors. Some articles have gone as far as saying that there never was much of a crisis at all. Gobomber could have, according to some writers, have envied the 14th ammendment and defused the whole mess and let the "tea party" and other wing nuts just stew in their own hatred and bull crap.
Now, of course that would have taken something like guts and we all now know without any doubt that Gobomber has none. The most innocent new born kitten has more courage than Gobomber has ever shown any of us. I can say this with a fair amount of certainty as I have had cats and new born kittens in my care many for years over my life time. I do believe that a new born kitten IS braver than Gobomber, at least as far as doing anything for the common people goes. At least that kitten gives you a nice feeling and is so soft to hold in your hand. Gives you a nice warm feeling just to pet one. Gobomber does not give any of us any sort of even luke warm feeling. All we seem to get from him and our other politicians is the cold shaft, the dirty end of the stick, and the "joy" of paying for the obscene bailouts for the Wall Street gangsters and the greedy banksters.
Give me the kitten any day, at least I know then I will get a smile of three every day. All we get from Gobomber and that crew is more hot air and here in central Louisiana the last thing we need is more hot, humid air. Our air temps have been in the 100's for the past week and the heat index has topped 114 more days than I care to count. Global warming? Could be. All I know is that it has been very hot and uncomfortable.
Even though the congress critters have reached their agreement on the debt ceiling, Standard and Poor's have still downgraded the credit rating of the US of A. Yep, we went from AAA to AA or AA+ according to one report I saw recently. This ratings outfit didn't like the bickering that took place to get this "crisis" resolved. Aww, poor babies. Hey, this is just typical politics guys. Our congress critters have to go through this crap all the time. They seem to think(??) that by doing so they appear to be actually working. Yeah, they may fool some folks, but I doubt any of you who read this blog buy into that line. The very thought of our congress critters doing any useful work is something most of us cannot believe. In particular, if they are doing any real work for the average American. Of course they do work for the folks who really matter to them, the richest 1%, who now control something like 40% of the total wealth of the country.
Things are getting very bad for the working class people in America. One good example of how it is affecting the working class is the latest post at Tomdispatch.www.tomdispatch.com/post/175428/tomgram%3A_barbara_ehrenreich%2C_on_americans_%28not%29_getting_by_%28again%29/#more
This is a "must read" that shows how bad things are getting here at home.
I keep remembering an old saying, no matter how bad things are, they can always get worse. The way this economy, or what now passes itself off as our economy gets worse, we need to remember that it CAN get worse. Some of the economic blogs that I try to follow say that we may be headed to another major down turn. We are set to either enter another severe recession or even a major depression.According to some of them, we will get a "double dip" recession.  Personally, I am not so certain that we ever came out of the last major recession. 
It also calls up another old comment. A recession is when your neighbor is out of work, a depression is when you are out of work. 
No matter which of the economic blogs one reads, for the working class and the poor, things look very bad. I do not see anything coming that will help us at all. The new deal that was made by our congress critters and Gobomber will not help any of us. Unless one is among the top wealthiest in this country, there is nothing in this deal to help you. The rich get away, again, with no tax increases. The war industries, of course, see no major cuts, not many minor ones either. Hey, we have six wars going on, don't you know? Six? Yep, six. Count them; Iraq (still a war), Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya. Six that we know of and that make news no and then. According to an article by Nick Turse, also at TomDispatch, we have "special" ops types in over 60 countries. Yes, that  is 60, as in sixty, countries around the world. Hey, keeping this empire going is hard work.
As the economy gets ever worse for the working class we could see our society start to break at the seams. There is already little to no common courtesy out in the country. As things get worse, there may be even less. With this in mind I want to ask all of you to try something. I have asked this before, but I think it is time to do so again. Try, just try, every day, with all the people you come in contact with, just try to treat them all as you want to be treated. Just try and be a bit cheerful to those you meet in your daily routine. You just could be the only person that somebody you meet who is actually polite. You could just be the one person who makes their day. It isn't really all that hard to do. Yes,it is very hot and humid in this part of the country and has been for weeks now, still, just try and be polite to the cashier at the gas station. He or she does not set the price at the pump, that gets dictated to them by the company they get the fuel from. Same goes for any retail setting, the person who collects your money does not set the prices. 
All I am trying to do is to maintain a bit of civility in our country. The economy stinks, the rich get ever richer and the rest of us are left with the crumbs. That doesn't mean that we should just forget all of our civility, our common courtesy and common sense. In fact, in my opinion, as things get worse, the more we need to be polite to each other. If we all go off angry, we will just add to the already high level of misery that is out there. 
It isn't hard. It doesn't mean that you subscribe to any particular religion, it just lets others know that some of us have retained our basic humanity. While you may call it the "golden rule" I just see it as being polite. Call it what you will, I just know that we need more of it as the economy goes ever downward. I lived in southern California during the Watts riots. I also was living there after the Rodney King trial. There have been other major riots in various cities in the past, I just do not want to see us devolve into that sort of thing again. We need to try our best to retain as much human dignity as possible or things will get very bad for us all. Hell, they had Blackwater goons patrolling the streets of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Do we want that sort of crap in all of our cities? If we fail to act as civilized adults, I have no doubt that we will get that and worse. It is up to us, we need to set the example. Yes, we may not change the world, but I believe that we need to at least try. If we don't, then what is the point of going on?
Just something to think about and consider. Thank you for your time reading this post.
semper fi

Dangerous times

By now most of you have heard or read about the attacks in Norway. While it has now come to be made known that the person who killed his fellow Norwegians is basically a neo-Nazi, the first reports of the killings placed blame on "Muslims" and "al-Qaead" types. Various "news" organization here in the US went with that "story" until the police in Norway made it clear that no, it was not a Muslim who did the killings.


What this shows, again, is that any time there is any terrorist attack any where in the world, some "jihadi" will be blamed and that will be the story until the facts become known and the truth is finally made known to us. This "blame the Muslims" first is very worrying. It is much like the "red scares" of the 1920's here in America. For you history buffs, this was back in the time of the infamous "Palmer raids". Yes, America has come close to being a police state with very limited "free speech" rights for some of the citizens in spite of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.


We are, I fear, headed towards that sort of thing here in the US again. Even the bombing in Oklahoma City by Tim McVeigh was, at first, said to be of "middle Eastern" origin. So, you can see that the US has been quick to blame the "other" first for some long time now. So much easier to blame some foreigner of course. It gets hard to admit that the real killer was just an ordinary, blonde, blue eyed guy next door type. Much better when the bad guy is some dark skinned foreigner. Yeah, that fits the "narrative" much better. 


A question does arise though. Who was behind the anthrax attacks back in the days after 9/11?  Ah yes, now you remember them? Finny how that investigation never went very far, isn't it? Not only was no individual actually accused, no group ever took credit for the anthrax attacks. Yes, one person was a suspect, but he was quietly dropped as the person responsible. As of today, no person or group has been charged, nor has any taken credit for the attacks. I wonder, is the FBI or any other agency even looking into this? Has it all been quietly swept under the proverbial rug? One would tend to think that with the huge, one could even say obscene, budget that our military/intelligence community gets each year from the taxpayers that there should at least be an ongoing investigation. Will the person or persons responsible ever be known? Has the investigation stopped totally? Why? It surely makes one stop and ask what did happen then, who was behind the anthrax attacks? Will we ever know?


As we all face a very uncertain future, the congress critters demand cuts to all the social programs in the US. They also insist that there be NO tax increases, particularly for the very richest among us. Oh dear, no, we cannot ask the very rich to pay a more fair share of the taxes. Why, don't you all know that the rich use their tax breaks to "create jobs"? What a load of bullshit!  How many jobs do the hedge fund managers create? Note that these hedge fund managers pay less in taxes than the street cops or the emergency room nurses. About the only jobs they create are those for undocumneted people who care for their kids, clean their houses/apartments, and cook their food and cut the grass. 
Oh, but this is America of 2011 where ALL the tax cuts go to the richest people and the tax burden is given to the working class and the poor/disabled. That we will have cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are a given. Gobomber has no back bone folks. This guy is not and never was for any sort of real "change". The only "change" we have from Gobomber is the gap between the top of income to the bottom has increased. The rich get ever richer and the poor get ever poorer. This is no way to run a democracy. Hell, it is not a way to run a republic.
The politicians talk of "shared sacrifice", but do not look for those at the top to do any of the "sharing". And they sure as hell will not ever "sacrifice" for the common good of all. Why, that would be against their religion!
Our(??) congress critters recently passed a bill, House Resolution 268, that basically tells the rest of the world(YES, every other country!) to keep out of the Palestine matter. That resolution tells the entire world that the USA will veto ANY attempt to recognize Palestinian statehood! How bloody damn arrogant!  This is what we get with the "full spectrum dominance" that the five sided puzzle palace (Pentagon) and the neo-con clowns want the US to have. It is "America uber ales" and nothing less will do. The US, according to these neo-cons (actually neo-crazies) is to dominate the entire planet. All for the enrichment of the very wealthy and the war industries and of course other "too big to fail" gangasters. This is also the wet dream of the nut balls on the very far right wing who want to impose their vicious, cruel god on us all. These people do not care at all for the supposed "savior" of their own religion. They surely do not accept the "Sermon of the Mount". No, they prefer the cruel tribal god of the Old Testament. Revenge, an eye-for-an-eye is what they crave. This is what America has to look forward to if these clowns remain in power. We will be returned to the times before the "great depression" when there was no Social Security, no unemployment insurance, no social safety net at all.
As the saying goes, no matter how bad things are, they can always get worse. As if things aren't bad enough now. According to various studies, one third of all homeless in America are veterans. How is that for the "support the troops"? Come home wounded, physically and psychologically and the government just tosses you on the scrap heap out back. Hell, you can't fight the damn fool wars any more, you are useless, go away and just die. Yeah, that is how this damned government "saves" monies. Hell, those wounded troops are a drain on the finances don't you know. 


I am very worried about our country. How far will things go until there is a mass backlash? How bad do things have to get before the working class finally wake up to the truth? How do we get government to work FOR the people and not just the very rich? So many questions, so few answers. I wish like hell I had some answers. 
semper fi

Some random thoughts

Greetings good people.
I want to start off this post by thanking all of you who have left comments here at the old corner. I deeply appreciate all of your comments. Yes, I said I like them all, even those that are negative. 
You make me realize that I am not the only person who thinks along similar lines . Thank you, all of you good people for stopping by here.


What a country we live in, here in the USA in 2011. What a world, I could add. Of course much of why the world is today is due to the actions of America. Being the dominant country, at least militarily means that your actions go a very long way to shaping the rest of the world. And, man, aren't "we" shaping things? If only  it was for the good of all people on this planet, then it could be a much better place for all of us.
As things stand, "our" actions are not making the world a better place, at least not for the working class and the poor folks. If you are among the top 2% of the richest, well, things are going quite nicely for you. This post is not about the richest people though. It is about how the working people and the poor are being affected by the USA and the government of this country.
Look around the world, how many wars is America involved in? Well, it isn't as easy to answer as you may think. Let's count them. Iraq, still an ongoing war no matter that some troops have been pulled from there. Afghanistan, still very much a hot war. Pakistan, still a drone war if not actual US "boots on the ground" war. Libya, still bombing that country along with NATO. Yemen, well, more drone warfare in that country. Somalia, more drones, so more war. Total so far, six. I have not added the "big" war yet, yes, I mean the "global war on terror". Of course Gobomber doesn't call it by that name. See, the "global war on terror" (GWOT) is what Shrubbie and "dead eye" Dick called their wars after 9/11. Gobomber prefers we call it something else. Beats me if I can remember just what he does call it now. "Kinetic military actions" pop to mind, but I believe that is what he is calling the Libya "war".  Oh, stupid old me, "we" (as in the USA) are NOT at war in Libya. Nope, we are engaged in something other than war. Yes, US aircraft are bombing Libya. US cruise missiles are being fired at Libya. US munitions are being used against Libya by the US and our NATO partners. And yet, Gobomber says "we" are not at war with Libya. Well, getting bombed by a foreign military sure as hell sounds like war to this old combat vet. Of course I went to war in the Vietnam war and cannot compare that war to the current "action" in Libya. See, the world has changed since "my" war and what war is today is not necessarily what war "used" to be. Yeah, that sure seems like some sort of word game to me. How does that old saying go? "A rose by any other name........".  Basically, what I am saying is that what the US is doing in Libya IS war. Gobomber and the idiot media can call it any name they choose, but it still comes down to the fact that NATO forces are bombing and  killing people in Libya and I bet that the Libyans think what they are in now is war.
According to one report I read some months ago, we have covert operations going on in 60 countries. Yes, 60, and that may not be the true total. One report claimed the number was 75.
 That will do for the foreign policy part of this post.


Back here in the USA things are not looking so great either. It seems that the elephant gang has declared war on the working class and the poor/disabled people of the country. That "party" is on an all out quest to gut every social program in the country, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Not only those programs, but they want to gut the rules that have kept the air and water relatively safe for us all. 
Both political parties are looking out for the rich folks though. The tax cuts that Shrubbie got for the top 2% of the richest are being extended and may even be made permanent by this congress. The republicans want to eliminate the rules that control anything that does not make the rich even more rich. They oppose any regulations on the Wall Street banksters. They want to destroy all unions and even the minimum wage.
Now the fact that these cuts to the social programs is not surprising at all. No, what really gets me even more disgusted is that many of the democrats are willing to go along with the cuts. This is being done, so they claim, so that they will get the republicans to go along with raising the debt ceiling. This needs to be done by August 2nd or the government will be in default.
I am not an economist and never have claimed to be one, but from what I have learned over the past few weeks is that if the government does default it could be very bad for all of us working class and poor people. 
None of this seems to bother the republicans though. They don't care about us working class folks. Why would they? We don't give them big campaign contributions, we don't have that sort of money to toss to some politician.  Not that the democrats care much about the working class/poor folks either now days. Both wings of the war party are looking out for the rich folks. Why not? That IS where they get the money to keep running for office. 
America is being turned into a third world country and it is being done by our own supposed "leaders". The working class and poor people have been sold down the river so that the top 2% of the very richest can amass even more wealth.  The top 2% of the rich in America control 40% of ALL the wealth in this country. That group of people have seen their "share" of the wealth increase while the rest of us have had our income either fall or, at best, stay steady. This is not a healthy way for a country to be.  The disparity in wealth is now even greater than it was during the great depression of the 1930's. It IS worse than it was in 1929 at the time of the great stock market crash that started that depression.
And just how do our "leaders" propose to get the country moving again? By extending the tax cuts for the very rich. By gutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  By gutting funds for the EPA and education. 
The republican "plan" is for the rich to get ever richer and the working class and the poor people are going to pay for that. Yep, the republicans want the folks who can least afford even the basics to pay for the tax breaks that the rich "need" so that they can "create" new jobs for us all. Of course this is total crap. History shows us over and over that tax cuts for the rich and their corporations do NOT lead to more new jobs. 
Even with that economic history, the republicans are holding the debt ceiling debate hostage to their demands that the rich get even more and the social programs be cut to pay for those tax cuts.
Gee, don't you all feel so lucky? Doesn't it give you a nice,warm feeling? Aren't you so happy that those wonderful folks, the republicans, want you to pay for the tax cuts to the rich? And, it gets "better". Yeah, the democrats look set to go along with the demands of the republicans. Do NOT expect Gobomber to say boo to them either. When has he ever shown any care at all for the working class? During his campaign, he said he would be with any picket line, any time. Well, has he ever shown up for any picket line? Has he been on the side of labor at any time since he took office? Have we ever seen Gobomber walking the picket lines with striking workers?
Of course not, and we never will. Like the majority of the politicians in America today, our president only supports/works for the richest of Americans and their corporations. The congress critters no longer care much about the working class and the poor people.  Oh, they pay lip service to us and our needs, but at the end of the day, it is the rich who get their attention, any time, any place. The rest of us are seen as drags on the economy. We are just useless eaters who take up too much space. If we are not willing to work at menial jobs for less than minimum wage, we have no value to them. 
I am very concerned about this "debate" on the debt ceiling.  The articles I have read all say that if the government goes into default, things could get very bad here in the old USA. Just how bad, well, that seems to be the big unknown. The clowns in congress and Gobomber have until August 2nd to come to an agreement. The agreement they come to may not be very good for many of us though. Just how much will the democrats and Gobomber give away to the republicans and their rich backers? I think that that is what bothers me the most. How much will we, the people lose so that there is an agreement on raising the debt ceiling. 
We are going through some very uncertain times folks. We have not seen the end of this, nor have we hit bottom yet from the financial crisis of 2008 and the bail out of the "too big to fail" gangsters. 
I wish I could end this post on a positive note, but I don't see much positive just now. Hang on folks, we are in for one hell of a bumpy ride.
semper fi

War? What War?

By now, most of you folks know that the US and NATO have been bombing the stuffings out of poor old Libya. To most of us, being attacked by a foreign military constitute war. According to "fearful leader" (Gobomber) what we are doing to Libya is NOT war. 
Supposedly, or at least according to the media and government officials (including of course Gobomber) what the US and NATO are doing is "humanitarian intervention". Shade of the Billy Bob Bubba Clinton "war" in the former Yugoslavia in the mid 1990's. See, old bad boy Gaddafi was supposedly killing his fellow citizens and "we" HAD to act to prevent genocide.
Now to any thinking, rational human being who reads any good internet news sites, this is a sham. If it is OK to attack Libya because the leader of that country is killing his own people, why then just limit "our" actions to Libya? Why are "we" not attacking Bahrain? How about Syria?  Or, even the zionist entity?  How about Myanmar (aka Burma)?
In all of those countries the leaders have and are killing their own citizens. Bahrain even allowed troops from neighboring Saudi Arabia to "help" put down any possible revolt by the citizens of that island nation. The zionist entity continues to kill the captive people of Gaza and the West Bank and yet, there is NO talk of any sort of US or NATO intervention in any of the above listed countries. No doubt Syria may be one of the next targets, since "we" do not like their leader all that much, see Syria is too friendly with iran and we all know that Iran is in the US target list. Who can forget McCrazy with his nasty parody of the "Beach Boys" song? Yes, the "bomb, bomb, bomb,bomb,bomb Iran" Disgusting, but Iran is still on the US target list, mostly due to the undo influence of the zionist entity and their lobby AIPAC.
The US has a very selective double standard when it comes to "humanitarian interventions". The people of the US are manipulated by the government with the willing cooperation of the major media. We are constantly told how some leaders are the very embodiment of  evil, while those who our "friends and allies" are allowed to go about their abuses with not even a single word of dissent from the USA. 
We have a Secretary of State telling the world, and the zionist entity in particular, that any US citizen who is foolish enough to join the flotilla trying to break the siege of Gaza, that the US will say nothing and do even less should any US citizen be harmed or killed trying to break the siege. Amazing isn't it? That "our" own government officials would tell us that by trying to actually DO something that is a humanitarian thing, we can be shot, injured, and/or imprisoned and our government will not say or do anything to help us. Now, to me, this just shows how far in bed with the government of the zionist entity the leaders of "our" country are. My opinion is that Hi-Larry has more respect and obedience to the zionist entity than she has to America and our Constitution and laws, to say nothing of international laws and the various Geneva Conventions.
The siege of Gaza is unlawful by any legal standard, yet "our"(??) Secretary of State is willing to allow that government to do as it pleases to any American citizen who tries to "run" the blockade of that impoverished people.
It all makes me wonder just what oath of office our leaders take now days. Do they actually mean it when they swear to uphold the US Constitution and the laws of the US? Did they have their fingers crossed when they took that oath? Or, did they actually swear undying allegiance to some other outfit? They certainly seem to be more concerned about the zionist entity than they are about the USA.
I remember when I enlisted in the US Marines, we all took an oath to defend and protect the US and the Constitution from ALL enemies, foreign and domestic. When I was released from active duty, I was not told that the oath no longer applied. The same was true when I got my final discharge from eh Marines. At no point was I ever told to or even asked to, revoke that oath. To many of us veterans, this means that we are still obligated to honor that oath. Maybe, in my own small way, this blog is part of my way to stand by that path, to defend the Constitution. That document has been under assault since at least 9/11. No doubt the attacks on the Constitution go back much further, but since 9/11, it seems to me that the attacks on the Constitution have become louder and from more sources than any time in the history of this country.
We have, as our president, a man who was a Constitution scholar. Funny how somebody with that background can just ignore the congress and go off and start a war with Libya. Not only has he ignored the Constitution which says that ONLY congress has the right to declare war, he has even "decided" that he does not have to follow the "use of force" restrictions that were put on that office after the Watergate mess. Gobomber has taken the "imperial" presidency that was so blatant during the Cheney/Shrub gang and run with it. And this from a man who was able to fool a large number of Americans into thinking(?) he was anti-war. We surely bought a bill of goods in 2008, didn't we? Brings to mind the old saying about a "pig in a poke".
One could say this just shows the power of advertising, which is basically what our elections come down to in the final analysis. 
America, what a country.
semper fi

2012? Who needs 2012, we have today

This morning, here in Alexandria, Louisiana, one of the TV channels we get had a program on the "end of the world" of 2012. Yes, supposedly the Mayan calendar says the world will end 21 December 2012.
From what little I have read on this, that "end of the world" bit is a miss-reading of that calendar. What it IS actually, is the end of a cycle. It does NOT necessarily mean that the world will end on that date. While many will undoubtedly debate this, from other news, all I have to add is, who needs 2012? We have, and seriously HAVE many other real problems right now, in 2011.
Poor Nebraska, they Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant is close to being flooded. Yes folks, the Missouri River is still rising and that power plant is in great danger from the flood waters.
Not bad enough for you? Well, just look a bit South and West of Nebraska and we get to New Mexico. Yes, the nuclear labs at Los Alamos are in the line of a raging fire. This fire is so far uncontrolled. Oh joy, there is a great deal of plutonium at that lab. Why you ask? Well, it is the main nuclear weapons lab for the US. They design nuclear bombs at that facility. Now that area is under a very real threat from the raging forrest fire in that state.
Still not enough? Well, there is still nuclear material being released from the damaged reactors in Japan. Yes, the nuclear power stations at Fukushima ARE leaking radiation into the environment. It has become so bad that even TEPCO, who owns and operates the power station has admitted that there is a major problem there.
As we all know, when the "powers that be" admit that there is a problem, we can be sure that there IS a huge problem.
Notice how the "media" as in TV "news" has little or nothing to say regarding these major problem areas. This IS the US of A in 2011, keep the public in the dark and hope the problems will go away. Or, that at least the public is kept from any real, useful information. Don't want the masses to over react you know. 
Now I would never want to cause any sort of panic, but damn, the public has a right to know just what IS going on in these places. It is the physical health of ALL people that is at risk in these three places. Radiation does NOT stop at the borders. We DO know that radiation from the damaged Fukushima plants HAS made its way to the US and even to northern Europe. 
An excellent source of news on these problems is at; http://enenews.com/


While it is true that we don't need detailed information on these areas, we DO need basic information. There is an evacuation order for the town around the Los Alamos labs. 


So, one can see that the "2012, end of the world" deal is not needed. We humans and our "inventions"  like nuclear power plants are quite capable of destroying the planet, no "out side" influences needed. Yes, when you have nuclear plants built on or very close to earthquake faults, nuclear labs in a fire danger area, or other such devices, who needs the old Mayans and their calendar?


Stay safe, stay informed.
semper fi

Words matter

Hello good people.
This war on words is starting to really disgust me. Actually, it has been bothering me greatly for the past few years. Yes, Shrubbie was the tops at butchering our language. All of us remember his many attempts at speaking that ended up as being totally unintelligible. 
Well, Gobomber is even worse than Shrubbie was. How so you ask? Well, look at the news these past months. The "war" in Libya is not a war. At least according to Gobomber it isn't. For more on this  war ON words, please check out Tomdispatch for his take on the way Gobomber and crew are bastardizing our language. Here is a link to the latest Tomgram;http://www.tomdispatch.com/ The article is entitled "Defining an American state of war". Very enlightening and worth your time.
Yes, I agree that "American" English is a living and evolving language. It is a very rich language that incorporates many words and phrases "borrowed" from other languages. Our language is an ever evolving thing, and that is good in my opinion. What really gets me angry is the way some folks, politicians in particular, bastardize our language. It is almost as if we ARE in the world of 1984 that Orwell wrote of. Yes, where war is peace, ignorance is knowledge, and "big brother" is always watching us all. 
We need to hold these political types to take more care in their choice of words. We cannot allow them to make up new meanings every time they "decide" to do so. If this keeps on, nobody will know what any other person means whenever they speak. Words DO matter. It is how we communicate with each other. Language is very important and the meanings of wards DO matter. To allow Gobomber to get away with  saying that what we are doing in Libya is anything other than war is to allow the abuse of our language to continue.
Notice how he now has us involved in "kinetic military actions". What the hell is this? Any ideas? Well, what he actually does mean is that "we" are killing people in some other country. "Kinetic military actions" indeed. It is our military going out and killing some foreign folks, either directly with ground troops, air strikes, or, most likely drone aircraft strikes. A war by any other name is still a war. 
Gobomber now claims that our "mission"(??) in Libya is something other than war since "our" troops are not in any great danger. "Our" aircraft are not in much or even any danger of being shot down. In short, the Libya "affair"(??) is mostly one sided, and therefore NOT war! 
Excuse me, but "our" military, whether by drone or manned aircraft is bombing the daylights out of targets in Libya. That is war, pure and simple. At the very least, is is an act of war on our part.
By allowing the politicians and the media to get away with calling this Libya war by any other term is to allow them total freedom to call anything in the world by any name they choose. 
Indeed, it could soon be the day when they DO call "war" by the term "peace". Welcome to the real 1984 in that case.
Wards matter and we need to remind the political types of that fact.
semper fi

This is a MUST read, I kid you not

Well, here we are, another day, another post.Wow, this might get to be a habit. OK, enough of my snarky comments. On to what prompted this "two-in-a-row" posting.
I was just checking my usual morning web sites, looking for anything interesting and I came across this at Think Progress. It is just too good to pass by. I will just hit the "highlights" (or is it low lights?) and put the link to the whole story here for you to check out if you wish.
First, the link; http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/16/246618/bachmann-craziest-quotes/
As you may have seen, it is about the congress critter from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann.
It is a list of the top ten craziest things she has said to date.
Here we go then, at number one; Bachmann warned that the "Lion King" was GAY propaganda. 
Yep, somehow that cartoon about a lion has some "gay agenda". I can't say one way or another since I have never seen that cartoon movie. Sorry folks, you'll all have to decide that one for yourselves.
At number two; Bachmann claimed that abolishing the minimum wage would create jobs. Yeah, now it IS true that most businesses DO want to get the cheapest labor they can find, this is total crap.
At number three; Bachmann claimed that scientists are supporters of "intelligent design". Yeah, and they also believe in the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus. No real scientist believes in that religious based "idea".
At number four; Bachmann claimed that Terri Schiavo was "healthy".  Her autopsy found that the lady had suffered irreversible brain damage, but according to the Minnesota congress critter, she was still "healthy". Yeah, sure.
Number five; Bachmann likened visiting Iraq to visiting the Mall of America. I have never been, and do not plan on ever visiting that mall, but having been in a war zone, I seriously doubt she has a clue to what she is saying in that comment.
At number six; Bachmann claimed that carbon dioxide is "harmless". Yes, it IS, to trees and other plants. They take in the CO2 and expel oxygen. So, if you are a plant, then yes, CO2 IS harmless.
Number seven; Bachmann called for a congressional witch hunt. This because Gobomber had an alleged relationship with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers. Yep, those folks were really into witch-craft. Yep, you betcha!
Number eight; Bachmann suggested gay singer should repent after getting cancer.  Yes, the congress critter saw Melissa Ethridge having cancer as a "teachable moment". Yes, Ms. Ethridge is a lesbian, so.........
At number nine; Bachmann boasted about breaking the law. In advance of the 2010 census, she said that she would break the law by NOT completing the census forms.
Finally, at number ten; Bachmann claimed that Glenda Beckie could solve the debt crisis. Yeah sure, he was just going to have us all buy stock in "Goldline".  Yeah, sure he can, and so much more also.
It is a rather short article folks. You might want to follow the link to get the whole deal. Looking back at my short version, I'd guess I should have said I was going to post the low lights not the highlights.  With Ms. Bachmann there are NO high lights at all. 
Just one further note. I stole this quote from Coyote Prime. It is a quote from Will Rogers; "There is no credit to being a comedian when you have the whole government working for you. All you have to do is report the facts. I don't even have to exaggerate." As the above truly attests to that comment. In fact, I could never make up the crap that comes from some of our congress critters.  Reality, who needs fiction? Enjoy folks and thanks for stopping by again.
semper fi

Is this still really the USA?

Greetings good people. Sorry for being so long between posts here at the old corner. While much has happened since my last rant, I just have not felt up to keeping this current. I will try to stay more current in the future, but, no promises.
I guess a good "starting" place would be the joint session of congress sitting through and giving a number of standing ovations to a real war criminal. Yes, I am talking about that miserable show where in Bibi Nutty-Yahoo held BOTH houses of "our" congress in rapt attention. 
First off, I have to wonder at why this clown was even allowed to set foot in this country. Yes, I know, the government of this country is totally in thrall with Bibi and the zionist entity. "We" fund that criminal enterprise to the tune of approximately $3 Billion every year.
That begs another question in my simple working class brain. Since "we" pay them in order that they remain afloat, why do "we" stand up and cheer for his speeches in our country? How many other folks who pay the bills of others do such a thing? One could even say to some extent that the US pays his salary. So, again, what "employer" cheers a speech of the "employee"? In particular when said employee (recipient of huge amounts of cash) is telling the employer that he/she MUST do even more to support said employee? It looks like a very odd relationship to put it very politely. Actually, very damn strange.
What was to me a very good sign, we have to take even very small bits of good news in the old USA these days, an article in the news that said the AIPAC gangsters had "minders" stationed in the audience during the speech by Nutty-Yahoo. Why the "need" for these minders? Well, they were there to start the applause and the "standing ovations", also to make sure that any congress critter who might foolishly "think" about not standing would be easy to point out for the cameras and therefore an easy target for shooting down in flames any chance of re-election.  Yes, the congress critters DO fear AIPAC. Now that is just plain wrong to my simple way of thinking. NO lobby of any sort, composition, or funding should have that sort of power over any member of the US congress. In actuality, that is to say the way this government is SUPPOSED to work (more or less according to the US Constitution) is that congress works for the people of the USA.  Yes, yes, I know full well that in truth, the congress works for the biggest donor of campaign funds.  What some very smart folks have said recently though is that AIPAC may NOT be as all powerful as they seem to be. In short, some very smart people are starting to say that AIPAC may just be a "paper tiger". Now, if only there were some way to find out if that is true and then make them register as an agency of a foreign government, which IS exactly what AIPAC is in truth. Oh, that would be a happy day. 
It is still amazing to this old veteran of an imperial war how "our" congress critters are so in love with the zionist entity. By outward appearances and talk, many of "our" congress critters seem to love the zionist entity above and beyond the USA.Their first loyalty looks like it is "Israel first". That alone should be grounds for removal from office. While I am on this topic, another "idea" of mine is that NO government employee would be allowed to remain as an employee (including elected office) and have dual citizenship. If you want to be part of the US government, then you MUST only be an American and nobody who has any government position could have another passport from another country. We have and have had many people in high government positions who have dual citizenship papers. Why they are allowed to hold any position in the US government is beyond my comprehension. That should not ever be allowed. Why should anybody who is an employee of the US government even "need" citizenship in any other country?
How any congress critter could sit (and stand) through a speech by Nutty-Yahoo and let him berate the US for not giving a more full support to the zionist entity without shouting "foul" is amazing. They allow, and even seem to "bask" in the presence of this war criminal. He needs to be reminded that WE, the citizens of this country, via OUR tax dollars keep that little criminal enterprise known as the zionist entity afloat with at least $3 Billion per year. How dare this clown come here and tell us that "we" are not doing enough for him and his! I say bull shit to that nonsense.


In the line of "better late than never", I give you the following. The link is to an article by Mr. Jacob Hornberger on how the US troops are NOT defending the USA. www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28246.htm
This old former Marine/Vietnam vet is in agreement with this article. If you really want to support the troops, you should be contacting your congress critter and demanding that the troops come home. We should also close ALL the US bases in foreign countries. Those troops and bases around the world are NOT defending the USA. They are defending the nations where they are stationed. Most every country in Europe is very capable of their own defense, the same applies to Japan and South Korea, Australia, and many other countries where we have our troops stationed. It is way past time to bring them all home. As I have stated many times, I would allow for the Marine guards to stay at our embassies around the world. They have a long tradition of providing security for our embassies and I recall being told during my enlistment that embassy duty was very much a "good duty" to have. So, the Marine guards can stay, but ALL the rest of our troops would come home. Yes, I would allow for the occasional military instructors to go to other countries and give them training for the equipment they buy from US companies and to maintain good relations with the militaries of other countries. I would also allow for joint military exercises with allied forces. Those exercises would be of a very limited time however, not "extended" missions.
All that "we" get from having troops all over the world is more resentment of America. Don't believe me? OK, just look at the situation in Okinawa. Yes, I refer to the cases of rape by some of our troops. Even if you put that aside, there are many other incidences of damage done by US troops to civilians in other countries while on maneuvers. I recall an incident in South Korea some years ago where US troops were in some traffic accident. It matters little as to who was at fault in these cases, it involved US troops and civilians and that is never good news. 
Oh crap, the idiot "failin' Palin" is back in the news, again. Or is that still? Either way, it is not good news. Yes, it is a bit comical this time. Her "take" on old Paul Revere is quite stunning to  put it very mildly. I do not recall old Paul riding around town shouting to the Brits that they "will never take away our guns".  Of course I did not attend the same schools that "sister" Sarah did. For that, I am thankful. Every time this person(?) opens her mouth, she just proves to all who have a functioning brain that she is totally incompetent. That she messed up her original comments on old Revere is not the problem, the fact that she later demanded that she did NOT mess it up IS. Now, you know things are getting bad when even Faux Noise, her employer, asks her if she didn't get the Revere story wrong. Well, she didn't get it wrong and even told Faux Noise so. Wow, she is so much smarter than even the folks who employ her. Maybe soon old Rupert will step down and hand off control of his media empire to dear old "sister Sarah". Yeah, and pigs will be flying 747's. 
This woman is an embarrassment. Not to just America, but to women in general and humanity. It certainly brings into question her college degree and the US education system.
What IS bothersome to me and some others is that she remains as popular as she seems to be. Have we, as a nation, become so dumbed down that this is what we like to see and hear? Has America come to such a low point?  Is this insanity the kind of critter we want as an elected official?
The moronic, and I realize that calling "sister Sarah moronic may be offensive to other morons, politics she and her reich wing pals are pushing could destroy this country. Her politics are those of greed, insecurity (on a personal level also), hate, deceit, hypocrisy, laziness,ignorance, and irresponsibility.  there seems to be no limit to how low these clowns are willing to take the country.
Just today, at the Think Progress web site there is this; the GOP is debating a bill that would cut funding to food banks and aid to senior citizens. I do all I can to support the local food bank. I know where they spend all their donations. They provide a very much needed service to many people around here. The country now has more people on food stamps and other forms of assistance than ever before. We need to keep the food banks funded. Yes, people in America, the supposedly "greatest country" ever go to bed each night with not having had enough food to eat. Imagine that fact! We have fellow Americans who are unable to afford food! And yet, this country sends "surplus" food to foreign countries! What also kicks in here is the supposed "Christian" nature of this country. Well, they do NOT know what is in their own book then. The New Testament has a story on this sort of mess. It tells us that before we criticize our neighbor for having a messy house we had best make sure ours is spotless first. The same applies to food aid. Before "we" send food to other countries, we should make sure that ALL Americans have enough to eat. Charity starts at home and we best get on with it.
These damn fool politicians want to cut or even end  the food bank funds, yet they vote for more tax cuts for the rich. They demand that we keep sending billions ever year to the zionist entity! All this while we have citizens of America starve! What sort of "Christianity" is this? What it IS is xtianity, that is what I call it. It is a false religion that is used by many in this country to beat us who do not believe in their false gods over the head with. They try to demand that I believe in their religion and yet, they fail, absolutely FAIL, to even abide by the teachings of their own book! And then, they have the audacity, the goddamn balls, to tell me they are not hypocrites! Horse shit on that!
Again, today at Think Progress is this about another reich wing nutball.  Yep, Ms. Bachman from Minnesota. This clown wants the rich to pay even LESS taxes and for the working class to make up the slack. She wants the working poor to pay MORE in taxes! Yes, less tax, no tax is she really got what she thinks(?) she wants for the rich and higher taxes for the working class and the poor folks. How is it that the people of her district keep voting for this moronic clown? Are those people brain dead? Do they just not care at all for their fellow human beings? 
If you think I am being too hard on those voters, well, too damn bad. I cannot understand how any sane human being could vote for such a piss poor excuse of a human being. What sort of person votes for this clown and others like her? Do they seriously despise the rest of us? How many of them actually work for a living? Do they enjoy seeing the elderly and disabled go hungry, do without needed medicines, without decent shelter, with limited or no medical services? I am very serious in asking these questions. I fail to see how they can support such clowns and the policies they want to push on all of us and then have the audacity to claim they are followers of Christ. Bullshit! Just where in their own book did Jesus say "screw the old folks, screw the poor folks? Another example of these clowns is the governor of Texas, Mr. Perry. this jackass actually believes that the economic crisis in the US is part of "god's plan" to return us to bible principles! No kidding, this moronic jackass actually believes this shit. And he was elected as governor? Yeah, sure, in Texas, by holy crap! Even Texans should not be that damn stupid. 
Also today, the members of the house are pushing for an amendment to allow the tobacco industry to run ads for cigarettes that target children. Now, I smoke, but I have been making my own cigarettes for over 21 years now. Yeah, OK, I am addicted to my smokes, but no way should they be allowed to target the kids. That has not been legal for quite a few years now. Remember the old "Joe Camel" ads? Well, they WERE trying to get kids to smoke with them. I think that if you want to smoke, that is your choice. I respect the folks who do not smoke and when I visit anybody who does not smoke, I never even ask if I can smoke in their home. Now, when they visit me, they know I smoke and I will not stop just because they are visiting me. Nobody has the right to tell me how to act in my own home. I respect your home rules when I visit you, I expect the same in return if you visit me. At the same time, I would never encourage anybody, let alone young folks to smoke. The tobacco companies should not be allowed to run ads that target kids. Of course that may change. The congress critters have received at least $290,000 from the big tobacco outfits. Once again, money talks and calls the shots in "our" government.
One last look at another reich wing nut job. Old Mitt Romney has stated that federal disaster aid to victims of floods and tornadoes is "immoral" and "it makes no sense at all". Um, I thought that Mormons were supposed to be Christians. Oh, OK, I got it, they ARE. They are just of the same variety as those who want to cut aid to seniors and the disabled. That is to say, the Romney Mormons are xtians. Now it all falls into place for me. OK, fine, we can all just go home now. No news in this, just "business as usual". 
I understand that in a country with a population of some 300,000,000 people that there are bound to be a few who are playing with less than a full deck, but holy crap, why is it that so many of them seem to be running of office?
Not having any answers, I'll end this rant for now. Off to go in search of an answer or two.
semper fi

My last (maybe) take on the bin-Laden killing

This is going to be my last take on the killing of Osama bin Laden. Well, I think it will be my last, maybe.
Since my last rant here at the old corner, I have read a few more articles on this subject and it has really got to me, again, only a bit worse.
As an American (native born) and a former US Marine/Vietnam veteran, the killing of bin-Laden has upset me greatly. The US and the allies put the high command of the Nazis on trial after the second world war. They were guilty of crimes much worse than anything bin-Laden had ever dreamed of, let alone been responsible for. 
That the US president, who is supposed to have been a Constitutional scholar and something of a legal expert could call this killing "justice" really sickens me. It was in no way, no how, any sort or form of justice. Justice does NOT come from the barrel of an automatic weapon. Justice comes from a trial, in a court room, with a judge, jury, and evidence. In a trial, and by trial I mean a fair trial, the evidence is introduced and argued about by the prosecutor and the defense attorneys. The evidence is there to be presented to the jury, so they can decide the guilt or innocence of the defendant.
I am afraid that America no longer stands for, nor does it actually promote, any sense of real justice today. My (??) country is no longer that which I learned of in high school civics class way back in the mid 1960's. America has fallen back on the law of the jungle. Kill or be killed. This is NOT what America should be. It IS, however, what America is today. 
May whatever god or gods that exist have pity on us, the rest of the world will not, nor should it have any for us.
America, where are you now?
There IS a monster on the loose.
semper fi

Some "odd" bits and a few pieces

Man, the things you run across while surfing the net.
The first one that struck me, is also a bit upsetting as well. I wonder how many people saw this and what their reactions were. Here is the link; http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/160257-netanyahu-to-address-congress-on-May-24
Yes folks, old Nutty-Yahoo is going to address a joint session of the United States of America congress.
The House Speaker, John Boehner, aka the orange man, is so "proud" of this get together. So proud in fact that he said;"It will be an honor to welcome Prime Minister Netanyahu to the Capitol....." An "honor"? Really? Well, the Zionist entity is a supposed "ally" of the USA. Never mind the "incident" with the USS Liberty. No, see, that is ancient history, or, better yet, it "never" happened, no matter what you may have read or heard.
The Majority Leader of the House, Mr. Eric Cantor, said that "Israel is a vital ally bound to America by common democratic values........" Common values? Oh, like persecuting your enemies by withholding vital supplies like medicine, food, and such? OK, got that now. Mr. Cantor also said,"A strong Israel translates into a stronger America." OK, now, could he explain to old, dumb me, just HOW that works? Does anybody have an explanation of how a "strong Israel" equals a "stronger America"? Seriously, I fail to see how that works out. Any ideas?

As for me, I fail to see why Nutty-Yahoo should even be allowed into this country. Probably he gets a free pass since we all know that old saying; "birds of a feather flock together". Yep, it will be a meeting of war criminals.  Old "Benny" is "one of us" and all that sort of good natured, back slapping fun. My own view is that the Zionist entity is a huge drag on the USA, both financially and politically. "We" give them billions every year and being so closely tied to that country, we suffer politically. The Arab world, among others, see the US not as an honorable neutral broker for a peace deal between Palestinians and the Zionist entity. It is so obvious a blind man could see how "we" will never be an honest broker in that matter. Again, I keep coming back to the advice of the founders about entangling alliances. Man, oh man, are "we" ever entangled with the Zionist entity. And here, all this time I thought the US capitol was Washington D.C.. Turns out that it has been  TelAviv.  "We" allow(??) them to basically dictate "our" foreign policies. Wonderful. Yes, I AM being sarcastic, snarky, or whatever else you wish to call it. Disgusted fits quite well also.

A side note on Libya. I got curious, yeah, I know, it supposedly killed the cat. Ah, but remember, satisfaction brought the cat back! Nine lives don't ya know. LOL.
OK, now that is out of my system, but still on the hard drive, on to my "topic". Gaddafi took power in a coup back in 1969. He has been in power for going on 42 years now. The coup took place in September according to Wikipedia, which means that IF he survives until September, he WILL have been in power a full 42 years. My point here is a small one, but I thought it worth mentioning. He is STILL only a colonel. Yep, he has NOT given himself the standard post-coup promotion. How many other people who have over thrown a government have kept their same rank? How many, who may have kept their old rank, promoted themselves at some future time? Within my limited research, Gaddafi is the ONLY person to hold power for decades without promoting himself to at least General, if not "president for life" as some African "democrats" have done.  This may be another, admittedly very minor, reason to get him out of office. I mean, how dare he hold power for so long and still be "just" a simple Colonel? Maybe his ego did not need a promotion? True, he HAS been photographed in some odd looking costumes, but STILL, he has not given himself a higher rank. Maybe this is just another way he remains his own person and a true maverick. His independence and his pan'Africanism surely puts him at odds with the clowns of NATO, the IMF, and the damn World Bank. Funny how one of the very first things these "rebels" did was set up a bank. Smell any rats there? The stench is over powering.

Once again, I refer you all to Pepe Escobar and his excellent reporting for Asia Times Online. His latest is well worth your time to read. Here is the link; www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ME12Ak01.html
We can see that NATO is very, very selective in their choice of targets around the world. If you are an independent sort of leader, you are ripe for "regime change". IF, on the other hand, you are a compliant sort, your rule is safe and you are free to do as you please when the "natives" get restless, see Bahrain for example. Well, hell, the US has the Fifth Fleet stationed in Bahrain, the "natives" must be suppressed. Thank the gods that the Saudis were available to "help" put down the rebellion in that island nation.

The air war in Libya isn't working out quite the way NATO planners thought it would. Funny, these planners never seem to learn that wars never go quite the way they are planned to work. With the recent Iraq and Afghan wars, one would think(?) they might have figured that out by now. Of course the planners are always high ranking officers and I remember my drill instructor in boot camp telling us that officers went to school to learn how to be dumb. Also, we Marines had a saying; rank is inversely proportional to intelligence.  See the following for the "air show" component of the Libya war; www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ME12Ak03.html
According to this report, the air war in Libya is also a sales pitch of sorts. This comes just after another report that stated that India is NOT going to purchase any US made jet fighters this go round. They have narrowed their choices down to the "Euro fighter" and the French made "Rafale" Wars now days are not just old fashioned shoot-em-ups, nope, they are also sales tools.Imagine the TV ads; "Buy the best aircraft in the world! The aircraft that took out the vile tyrant Gaddafi!!  Of course the ad would make use of full color gun sight video and "living" color video of bombing raids to prove the point. Yes folks, there is big money in war.

and still, life goes on............
semper fi

Libya, department of corrections, my error

In my last rant I tore into the newest War in Libya. I pointed out how this war IS about oil to some extent, it is also about the 144 tons of gold that Libya holds. I also mentioned that the Wall Street gangsters along with the "too big to fail" gangsters "must" have control of that money and the oil/ I forgot to add the other main reason for this war. THat tip to Reality Zone for reminding me of my error of omission. You see, I neglected to add that the US needs an African country in which to base its newest military force, Africom. As of now, Africom is based in Stuttgart, Germany. Yes, the US military command for the continent of Africa has its headquarters based in that wonderful "African" nation of Germany.  OK, enough of my snide remarks. The thing is, NO country in all of Africa would allow Africom to be based on their soil. Hence, Libya must be "liberated". 
So, there we have the main reasons for the war in Libya, the sovereign fund of that nation (along with all that gold that they hold in reserve), the oil, which is always going to get the attention of the gangsters who are "too big to fail", and the fact that Africom wants a physical base IN Africa. 
Now, the fact that there is also the largest aquifer under the sands of Libya and Egypt is quite high on the list of "goodies" that the "too big to fail" gangsters want to control. So far, I would put the water resource as a very close secondary want. I do this only because I have not seen much about this resource in any report yet. While I do place it in a secondary level, it could go to the first tier at any time. I have seen various reports on the net in the past few years that water and other natural resources will become items that will be fought over in the near future. 
Again, the reasons for the war in Libya, gold, oil, and a base for Africom, with water a very close secondary reason. Any way you slice it, this is a war for resources. There will be many more such war in our future unless there are some very real and serious changes made in various governments. Sorry to be a pessimist, but I don't see those changes coming any time soon.
semper fi

Another day, another rant

Well, here I go again. Yes, another rant from the old guy to stir up whatever I can.
This all started with an article at Information Clearing House (a link to the site is now posted on the front page here at the right side of the screen with the other links). 
The article is by Mike Whitney. While he usually writes about the economy, or whatever is passing itself off as an economy here in the old US of A, this time Mike has ventured into the realm of international politics and wars. This is not the first time he has done so, I just wanted to let you know that the majority of his articles on the Counterpunch web site are on the economy. 
The title of his article says it all, "The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today". You can read this excellent article here;www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28037.htm
In his article Mike makes many very good points as to the "why" Libya is being bombed into submission by NATO. Yes, it IS about the oil under the sands of Libya, but it is also about the 144 tons of gold that Libya has on hand. This does not in any way detract from the truth of the article, I just added that fact to an already excellent article.
I emailed Mike with my reply to his article and he sent back an email that I should post my reply here at the old corner, so, blame Mike for this rant. LOL. Seriously, without his email back to me, I may have let this slide. So, here goes my reply;
Mike,
Very good article on Libya.
No matter what one may feel about old Gaddafi, he does have the right to suppress any rebellion against his rule in his own country.
If the leader of a country being a supposed "bad guy", not many countries would be immune from invasion by the supposed good guys. To use Gaddafi being on the outs as reason to remove him from power is disingenuous or worse.
Hey, Gobomber is an asshole, does that mean the USA can be invaded and him removed from office? I wish. Maybe the Swiss can invade the USA and install a better form of government here. LOL.......much as I might enjoy that, it will never happen. Why would the Swiss want to take over the shit pot that  America has become? We have trashed the entire country, so even the natural resources and national parks are not worth their time to invade us now days.
All the wars of choice are based on lies. "We" are in Libya to take over their national bank accounts. They must be placed under control of the IMF and the World Bank. The Wall Street gangsters must have control of all.
What a damn mess America has made and continues to make of much of the planet.
Yes I am in a bad mood today, screw the goddamn empire.
By the "standards" the powers that be apply to Gaddafi, the ass clown governor of Wisconsin should be able to call for the US military to shoot the demonstrators in his state. Rule by force, that IS empire.
I best stop for now, too pissed off at the bullshit.
best,
charlie

Well, there it is folks. And, yes, I am still pissed off at the goddamn bullshit. I have been trying to keep my language polite here at the old corner, but every so often you reach a level where "polite" language just no longer conveys your true feelings. Some may think I should apologize for my "bad" language here today. Well, I did not mean to offend anybody, if I did, it was not by design. As for an apology, sorry, there will not be one. As the saying goes, if you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.
Every American should be outraged at these damn fool, useless wars of choice. We are NOT one bit safer due to the invasions of Iraq or Afghanistan. We are not one tiny bit safer from the drone attacks on Pakistan. We are not any safer from our government pumping billions of dollars every year into the Zionist entity. We are no safer from the use of drones and "special ops" types in Yemen, Somalia, or any other country around the globe.
The sanctions against Iran have not made America one tiny, tiny bit safer either.
The founders of the republic had it right; fair trade with all nations, entangling alliances with none. Also, we should not go in search of monsters to destroy. Had we kept to those basic ideas, the country and the entire world would no doubt, be much nicer than it is today. Imagine, a world without the bloody damn empire tromping all around invading here, bombing there. Why, there could actually be a very good chance for real peace. No, it would not be "all sweetness and light", but it most certainly could be much, much better than it is currently.
So many Americans like to say that our country is a "Christian" nation. Well, it never was nor was it designed to be, but OK, I'll give them a break on that, but ONLY if they start to practice one of the most basic tenants of their religion, that is, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. IF every Christian would act accordingly, then I will not be so critical of them when they tell me that America is a "Christian" nation.
It is way past time, so lets all get with it and shout ENOUGH!! Enough of these damn fool wars of choice. Live and let live.
semper fi

Well, the bad guy is dead, do the troops come home now?

As you all know, last night Gobomber came on live TV to announce to the world that Osama bin-Laden had been killed by US troops.
I was not going to post on this matter until watching a bit of TV this afternoon and that was topic number one. Yes, even ESPN, the sports channels had to tell us about this man being dead. One "lead" story on ESPN was about the "sporting world's reaction to the death of bin-Laden". Yeah, way to go America, even the sports channels have to give a "sports world" reaction to the killing of the "most wanted man" in the world. Just why would I care at all how any sports person reacts to this? Do I get my world view from some baseball player, or maybe a football player. Yeah, sure thing. 
OK, I'll try to keep any further sarcasm to a minimum. 
Some people have said that bin-Laden died or was killed years ago. There have been various reports on the internet about his death off and on since his escape from the mountains around Tora Bora back in late 2001/early 2002.
Reports also claimed that the man had kidney troubles and needed dialysis. Now I have never worked in the health care industry, but I would think that it would be very difficult, if down right impossible, to cart dialysis equipment around the Hindu Kush and over the mountain passes between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was also supposedly a diabetic. Not exactly the sort of health troubles that would make for easy hiking over the mountain passes in that area of the world.
News reports tell us that they took DNA samples to prove that this time they really did kill bin-Laden. Also, he has been buried at sea. No doubt this was to rid any chances that his grave could become a place of reverence for his followers. 
While I never did have any support for him or his organization, you did have to respect his convictions. How many members of a wealthy family would give up a soft life style and hold out in the wilds of the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan? None that I can think of, though there may be some. The respect I give him and his organization is the respect for an enemy. One lesson I learned as a Marine in Vietnam was that your enemy, while you would not be friendly with him/her, you did need to give him/her some measure of respect. When you refuse to give your enemy any respect, you are about to suffer losses. I would venture to guess that even Sun Tzu  who is said to have written the book The Art of War had some measure of respect for any of his enemies. This does not in any way imply any friendliness toward said enemy. The VC had stamina, commitment, and were respected as a very worthy enemy. The same can be said of al-Qeada and Osama bin-Laden.
One more comment about this "event". Last night on CNN, they showed crowds outside the White House fences cheering and shouting  what has become the standard chant of America since 9/11. Yes, they were chanting "USA!  USA!   USA!" In my opinion, they were just like the mindless clowns who cheered Hitler at the rallies the Nazi party held, they were much like the old Romans who cheered at those who were tossed into the arenas to face off against wild beasts, or, and this may be uncomfortable, posed for photographs at lynchings in the American South and Mid-West some decades back. Just call me disgusted with that sort of behavior. All else aside, he was a fellow human being. I would have liked for him to be captured and put on trial in a US criminal court, NOT some military tribunal at Gitmo. Of course, then, he may have said more than our(??) government would have wanted him to say. No, he had to remain a phantom or, better yet (perhaps) eliminated. Well, bin-Laden is dead now, officially dead, Gobomber has said so. Now, can we bring ALL of the troops back home?
Or would you prefer to purchase a very nice old bridge in Brooklyn?
Just my opinion of the death/killing of bin-Laden, for what its worth, or not.
For a good look at al-Qeada, Osama bin-Laden and the history of both, please check the following article;www.counterpunch.org/qadir05022011.html
semper fi

Changes and a very worth your time article

Greetings good people.
I have just read an article that I think is well worth your time to check out. It is over at Counterpunch this weekend. The link is here;www.counterpunch.org/wilson04292011.html
While it is a bit long, in my opinion, it describes much of what is and has been wrong with the US military for many years. The major obstacle is careerism and the author does a very excellent job of showing just how it has and continues to destroy the military. The old "revolving door" of military-to-defense(?) contractor. It is very well worth your time to read this article. If you want, you can follow the link at the end of it and download a book that gives even more details of Labyrinth that is the Pentagon, or as Mr. Huber calls it and I have adopted the same, the "five sided puzzle palace".

I am making a few changes to the old corner as of now. From now on, the "too big to fail" crews and the clown of Wall Street will be referred to as gangsters. In my opinion, that is just what they ARE, so, I may as well call them that. I will continue to call out the Wall Street gangsters and the "too big to fail" gangsters unless or until they stop acting as such. I doubt that will happen any time soon.  So, that is change number one at the old corner.

Change number two, from now on I refuse to use capital letters when mentioning Congress. From today onward, it will be the congress critters that will be taken to task. This will continue until we the people are finally able to elect some decent, honest people to that body. No more Congress critters, from today onwards, they are congress critters. Lower case as that is what they have earned, lower case as in low class, even no class for a good many of them. I refuse to believe that any Congress person would even think of dismantling Social Security and Medicare, two programs that benefit both the common people and society at large. No, only congress people would do that and then brag about it to the people of this country. YES, some congress critters ARE proud that they want to destroy those programs.
A very good article on this is to be found at;www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/575
In that article Mr. Lindorff shows us how we CAN make a difference. Read the article and lets get the ball rolling folks. The country needs to change course, and damn soon or there won't be much left for our kids and grand kids. We the people MUST stand up for what is right for ALL of us. If you are retired and/or disabled like me, you have enough time to help out, if it only writing an email to your congress critter. It IS up to us folks. WE are the ones we have been waiting for.
semper fi